The extended ROSAT-ESO Flux Limited X-ray Galaxy Cluster Survey (REFLEX II) IV. X-ray Luminosity Function and First Constraints on Cosmological Parameters

Abstract

The X-ray luminosity function is an important statistic of the census of galaxy clusters and an important means to probe the cosmological model of our Universe. Based on our recently completed REFLEX II cluster sample we construct the X-ray luminosity function of galaxy clusters for several redshift slices from $z=0$ to $z=0.4$ and discuss its implications. We find no significant signature of redshift evolution of the luminosity function in the redshift interval. We provide the results of fits of a parameterized Schechter function and extensions of it which provide a reasonable characterization of the data. Using a model for structure formation and galaxy cluster evolution we compare the observed X-ray luminosity function with predictions for different cosmological models. For the most interesting constraints for the cosmological parameters ${\Omega }_m$ and ${\sigma }_8$ we obatain ${\Omega }_m\sim 0.27\pm 0.03$ and ${\sigma }_8\sim 0.80\pm 0.03$ based on the statistical uncertainty alone. Marginalizing over the most important uncertainties, the normalisation and slope of the $L_X-M$ scaling relation, we find ${\Omega }_m\sim 0.29\pm 0.04$ and ${\sigma }_8\sim 0.77\pm 0.07$ ($1\sigma$ confidence limits). We compare our results with those of the SZ-cluster survey provided by the PLANCK mission and we find very good agreement with the results using PLANCK clusters as cosmological probes, but we have some tension with PLANCK cosmological results from the microwave background anisotropies. We also make a comparison with other cluster surveys. We find good agreement with these previous results and show that the REFLEX II survey provides a significant reduction in the uncertainties compared to earlier measurements.

Submitted for publication to Astronomy and Astrophysics, 15 pages, 17 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Likelihoods and Parameters from the WMAP data
• Testing X-ray Measurements of Galaxy Clusters with Cosmological Simulations
• The Representative XMM-Newton Cluster Structure Survey (REXCESS) of an X-ray Luminosity Selected Galaxy Cluster Sample
• The 400 square degrees ROSAT PSPC galaxy cluster survey: Catalog and statistical calibration
• The Lx-Yx Relation: Using Galaxy Cluster X-Ray Luminosity as a Robust, Low Scatter Mass Proxy
• LoCuSS: A Comparison of Cluster Mass Measurements from XMM-Newton and Subaru - Testing Deviation from Hydrostatic Equilibrium and Non-Thermal Pressure Support

Cited by in corpus (14)

• The galaxy cluster mass scale and its impact on cosmological constraints from the cluster population
• Cosmological Constraints From Weak Lensing Peak Statistics With CFHT Stripe 82 Survey
• Measuring cluster masses with CMB lensing: a statistical approach
• Discovery of a supercluster in the ZOA in Vela
• Connecting Dark Matter Halos with the Galaxy Center and the Supermassive Black Hole
• Cosmological constraints from Subaru weak lensing cluster counts
• Characterising superclusters with the galaxy cluster distribution
• Constraints on neutrino masses from the study of the nearby large-scale structure and galaxy cluster counts
• The extended ROSAT-ESO Flux-Limited X-ray Galaxy Cluster Survey (REFLEX II) VII The Mass Function of Galaxy Clusters
• Emission Line Galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei in WINGS clusters
• Comparison of hydrostatic and dynamical masses of distant X-ray luminous galaxy clusters
• Can AGN and galaxy clusters explain the surface brightness fluctuations of the cosmic X-ray background?
• Evolution of the gas mass fraction in galaxy clusters
• The extended ROSAT-ESO Flux-Limited X-ray Galaxy Cluster Survey (REFLEX II) VI. Effect of massive neutrinos on the cosmological constraints from clusters